Wish I Was Farther
by Ltkcoolnesslover
Summary: There's no such thing as being too far from the horrors of your home. (An old story that I found while cleaning out my documents folder. I wrote it back in like 6th grade, and I felt like posting it here.)


**The Daily Telegraph**

**October 5, 2001**

A woman by the name of Elizabeth Kirkland was arrested today in London, England after a neighbor by the name of Isabelle Moore told police that she heard loud crying and yelling coming from Elizabeth's apartment. She stated that she had not ever had knowledge of a child presently under the care of Elizabeth Kirkland. Police conducted research and found record of Elizabeth Kirkland having a child, but according to the article, custody of the child was given the father, Lawrence Fletcher. After further investigation of the situation, police infiltrated the apartment and found a small, malnourished, and badly beaten child around the age of three. The child was taken to the hospital for treatment. Elizabeth Kirkland was later arrested for the non-legal possession of a child and child abuse. She has a ten-year prison sentence. The child, who later told police that his name was Ferbington, is now safe and in his father's custody.

*** Ten Years Later ***

"Ferb! Ferb, bro, wake up!"

"Hugh?" I squinted at the hazy light that filled the cabin. As my vision began to focus, I was able to make out my stepbrother's face as he stared down at me. He was smiling and looked rather jittery.

"Wake up, we're here!"

I sat up and groggily peered out the window of the plane and out at the dreary London landscape. Fixing my mussed green hair I sighed. Ah yes, London. I remember coming here a few times when I was little, that is after well, you know... You see, I was actually born in England. But after a rather frightening series of events, my father and I moved over to America. We spent less than a year there before my father found a rather nice lady and eventually ended up marrying her. This lady had already been married once, and she did already have children. The bonding of my father and this lady, who I now call mum, brought me the company of my stepsister Candace and my stepbrother Phineas, who was the one currently talking with me.

"This is gunna be great bro! We can ride on the London Eye and go to the Buckingham Place and eat scones and..."

"Calm down now Phineas." My father chuckled from the seats behind us. Phineas frowned slightly, than leaned toward me and whispered.

"I know I'm not supposed to be too excited, but I can't help it! Ferb, you've been here before. I'm sure there's like a million fun things to do! Ummm, by the way have you seen my backpack? I can't seem to find it."

"Um, yeah," I started reaching under the seat, "I think it's-" I was cut off though as my older sister began to squawk from her place beside Phineas.

"Ughhhhh! When are we going to get off the plane? I need to text Stacy and ask her how her date went! There better be Wifi in the airport! Is there Wifi in the airport?"

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure they have Wifi here. You'll be fine." My mum then stood and grabbed her bag. "Alright kids, let's get off."

Each of us in turn took hold of our bags and followed her off the airplane. As we stepped outside we all pulled up our hoods and sloshed through the puddles and into the airport.

"Yes, they have Wifi here!" Candace cheered as she enthusiastically began pounding away at the keys on her phone. I turned away from her to stare the at grandure of the building around us. The bright lights and sparkling surfaces were almost too much for me to handle, what with jet leg and all. I blinked, trying to clear my mind, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Ferb, dude, are you all right?" It was Phineas.

"What?"

"I asked you something and you didn't respond. Anyway, do you wanna go see some of the sights of London?!"

"It's raining," I replied flatly, pointing towards one of the large windows.

"So?" He grabbed my wrist. "Mom, Ferb and I are gunna go see some of the sites!"

"Hum, oh, alright boys. Be safe though, and leave your bags here with us." We nodded and handed our bags over to our parents. Then we took off.

"See ya mom, dad!" Phineas called behind us, "We'll be back in a few hours!"

Soon after Phineas and I left, the rain began to clear up which was nice because we didn't have to constantly shield our eyes from the falling droplets of water. It still was, however, very cold and our socks and shoes were soaked through due to the large puddles of water that flooded the streets. We had visited a few attractions and many of the food stands around the area. We were currently taking a rest on a green painted park bench. Phineas was telling me a joke of some kind when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a shadowy figure leaning on the corner of a nearby building. As I turned to get a clearer look of the person, the figure suddenly just disappeared.

"Ferb? Ferb, what are you lookin' at?"

I cocked my head to the side and glared half incredulously and half frightened at the building.

"There was just a person there! I swear there was!"

Phineas looked at me worriedly.

"I think you're tired bro. You're probably just seeing things. Come on, we kind of have to go and find mom and dad anyway. They should be at the hotel. Uh, do you still have the sheet with the hotel information?"

I sighed sparing the building one last glance before reaching into my pocket and pulling out the slightly damp sheet of paper.

"Yeah, here it is." I handed it to him and he took it. As he began to read the sheet I took to rocking back and forth on my heels. Less than ten seconds later another shadow darted past my field of vision to the left. I spun to face it but again nothing was there.

"Still seeing things huh?" Phineas asked, poking my shoulder. I simply hummed in response eyes darting around nervously before nodding a reluctant yes. Something was definitely not right, but, not wishing to freak my brother out, nor myself any more than I already was for that matter, I followed him as he started heading up the street.

We had only gone another couple of blocks before I saw another shadow. I began to quicken my pace until I came into step with Phineas. I stared at him a few seconds but he didn't respond, so I settled on gently prodding his arm.

"What?"

"Phin, how are you not seeing this?"

"Seeing what?"

I sighed again.

"These odd shadows. How are you not seeing them?"

"Ferb, I told you, you're probably just seeing things. There's nothing to worry about."

He obviously wasn't going to continue this conversation, so I decided it was best to drop the subject and continue to walk. As I figured it would take at least another 20 minutes of walking before we reached the hotel. The sun was just starting to set, and I thought we'd make it there by at least sundown. Suddenly yet another shadow flashed past, but this time closer. Phineas quickly jerked around to stare at the spot where the shadow had just passed.

"Okay, that time I saw something," he said, voice shaking out of nervousness. I turned to him and gave him a bit of an 'I told you so' look. He looked back at me and then began to shake and point behind me.

"What?!" I asked turning around. I never get to fully finish that turn as a damp cloth was pressed up against my face. I saw my brother struggling with the same problem before something was pulled over my head. I tried to scream but nothing would come out. Whatever the cloth was covered with was causing my throat to go hoarse and my head to spin. Struggling was becoming more difficult as well. The last thing I heard before I went out was a woman's voice laughing and saying 'good job.'

When I awoke it was dark. Very dark. The only light in the whole place was a small fluorescent tube light at the end of the hall. Its normally soft hum seemed like the loudest thing on earth for everything else was deadly silent. As far as I could tell, we were in a warehouse of some kind. I felt the cold sting of metal around my wrists, ankles, and neck. I tried to move, but found it nearly impossible as the chains clinked together loudly. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could faintly make out the outline of my brother next to me.

"Phin! Phineas!" I hissed. Suddenly I heard a metal door slide open in the distance. My heart began to beat faster and faster as I heard footsteps echoing throughout the building. They began to come closer and closer until I could just see a blurry figure standing at the opposite end of the hall. As the person neared I could see that this person, lady actually, was wearing a black latex suit and had green hair a very similar shade to mine. She walked confidently but never looked directly at me.

"Hullo Ferbington," she said flatly as if she'd been expecting me.

"H-how do you know my name?" I began to shake. _What was going on?_

"Because Ferb," She turned and we locked eyes. I gasped. "Why would a mother not know the name of her own child?"

I continued to stutter.

"B-but how? Y-you had gone to p-prison"

"You're right Ferb I did go to prison, and do you know whose fault that was? Yours! It was all your fault! But come now let's not wake your "brother". How about we go somewhere a bit more private. Guards!"

There was more heavy pounding as two burly men stomped down the corridor. When they reached us my 'mum' nodded to them. I remember something hitting me. Or rather me being hit by something. One of the men grabbed a set of keys from his belt and unlocked the chains from around me. I wanted to run, but I was much too dazed. They hoisted me above their shoulders and walked out of the warehouse.

I don't remember when I blacked out again, but the next time I awoke I was strapped to some sort of chair in a small room. My mum, no Elizabeth, was standing in front of me, a sort of smirk stretched across her face.

"Hullo again Ferb. Did you enjoy your nap? I hope so, because here you'll need your rest."

I slowly looked around, my breathing erratic out of fear. There were many large machines set up all around me, none of which I could recognize or fathom their use.

"Interested by all of my play toys I see. Well, I'm glad. Would you like to see what they do?" She walked around me and flicked a switch on one of the machines. It crackled as it came to life. She then grabbed a cord from the machine and clipped it to my finger.

"Before I show you what this does I have a little question to ask you. Don't worry, there are no wrong answers." She held up a little black box with a few control buttons on it. "Now, where is your father?"

"Why should I tell you?" I questioned.

Her smirk became wider.

"Wrong answer." She pushed a button on the little box and I felt a sharp jolt of electricity surge through my body, causing me to cry out in pain.

"Having fun yet? Now, I'll ask you again, where is your father?"

"Why do you want to know!?" Another jolt.

"Fine, I'll ask you a different question. Where is the box?"

"T-the what?

"You know Ferb, the box that has all of your birth forms. Without birth forms you're just an object that can be done with as pleased. Oh, that's right, I know where the box is. It's right here." She turned to the desk behind her and grabbed a small shoebox.

"Wait," I said, "Why do you care if I don't have birth forms?"

"Because, without birth forms not only do you become property, you become valuable property. Property that some people would pay a hefty sum for in odd parts of this world. As you can probably see Ferb I've never cared much for you. All you've ever been is a nice way to get money. I was to raise you as a slave so that I could eventually sell you, but no. Isabelle just had to call the police didn't she? But that's no matter now. She paid the price."

My eyes widened. A piece of property only to be sold for money? Is that all I was meant to be? But wait-

"What do you mean, 'she paid the price?'

She tossed a paper back at me. I just looked at her blankly.

"Go on now, read it."

I tilted my head down to read the headline of the paper. It read, 'Woman shot dead in own apartment.'

"Y-you killed her?"

Her smirk broke into a grin.

"Of course dear Ferbington. What else was I to do?"

I gaped at her. A murderer? I was in the presence of a murderer?

"And unless you answer my questions," her eyes flashed, "you'll be next."

I may not have known what was happening at the time, but I was later told by Phineas that he escaped from the other part of the warehouse and had gotten the police to come and rescue me. Currently though I was being held over the edge of a building by the back of my shirt. The electric shocks had made me weak so struggling was nearly impossible. The red and blue light from the police cars flashed across the nearby buildings and bathed all the people down in the street with an eerie sort of shadow. I heard my brother call up from the street.

"Let him go!"

"Why should I?" My mum's voice rung in my ears. "Why should I let such a profitable opportunity slip through my fingers again?"

"Ma'am, I'm afraid you're going to have to put the boy down. We have officers coming up there, and they will take any measures to arrest you. Please make it less of a struggle for yourself and us and let go of the boy."

I heard my stepmom crying then suddenly my dad spoke up.

"Elizabeth, let my son go!"

My mum spoke again.

"Your son Lawrence? Who was the one who gave birth to him? Who was the one who raised him from little on?

My father cut her off.

"And who is the one holding him over the edge of a building? You don't care about him! You never did! Now let! Him! Go!

"Let him go huh? I suppose since I've technically lost this fight already, I could have at least one last victory before I'm locked up again." She chuckled slightly then released her grip on my shirt. There was a collective gasp as I began to fall. Though sluggish I scrambled to find a grip on something. I did finally grab hold of a sill a story or two down, however not before hearing my shoulder pop clean out of its socket. I cried out in agony while hearing my brother's horrified scream from down below.

"Ferb!"

Breathing was becoming even harder now. One of my arms was now completely useless, and the muscles in my other were burning from the pull of my whole body's weight on it. My eyes began to roll back into my head. _Was this really going to be the end? NO! No it wasn't. _I felt a sudden burst of adrenaline surge through my body. My eyes snapped open and slowly I started scaling the side of the building. Phineas and the rest of the people on the street began to cheer. As I reached the top, I could see my mum facing away from me, seemingly awaiting the arrival of the police. I grunted as I reached the top, she spun around and growled.

"How many times do I have to deal with you?" She pounced at me, but I ducked out of the way and rolled to a crouching position. She lunged at me again. This time I was able to raise my fist enough to knock her back. The exchange of punches and kicks went on for a while before I heard footsteps pounding up the cement steps that led to the roof. Adrenaline still coursing through me, I pulled my mum's arm behind her back.

"How could you think it was okay to do something like you did to me? How could you try to sell me off to be a slave?" I had tears dripping down my face. "How could you try to kill me?"

"You don't know what I've had to go through Ferb! You'll never know." She threw her elbow back at my face. It connected painfully with my nose and I released my grip on her to cup my face.

"You'll never know," she hissed, tears flowing freely. With that she neared the edge of the complex and simply let herself fall. Falling to my knees I reached my hand out as I watched her body plummet downward. I cringed and collapsed into a sobbing ball as I heard a wet splat from the street below. What was done was done, and there was nothing I could do about it. I don't know how long I stayed like that, but eventually I felt a warm hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay bro." I turned and Phineas pulled me into a loving embrace. Leaning on him heavily we stood and joined the rest of my family who was waiting behind us. They each in turn pulled me into their arms, trying to console me. I pulled away from them to stare out at the stars twinkling in the distance. A cold breeze floated over my body. Only hours ago my life had been fine, I hadn't had a care in the world. Would things ever be the same again? But then I remembered my family who was still standing behind me, concerned, but willing to do whatever it took to help me. I smiled slightly then turned back to them. I still had tears in my eyes, and I'm sure I looked rather beaten but I didn't care. Things may not be the same in the future, but I didn't care. As long as I had them, I still didn't care. And in the end that's really all that matters...


End file.
